Dear Friends,

I had the good fortune to be in Seattle at the end of November for the 3rd Ministerial meeting of the WTO. That meeting was supposed to be the launch of the so-called Millennium Round. Instead, it became the last big protest of the century. And it was quite a protest, remarkable not for its violence (because that was a small and over-reported dimension), but for its effectiveness in initially preventing the WTO meeting from opening, for its unity in bringing so many people and causes together from around the world, and for its success in forcing a genuine public debate about the WTO.

The last big protest of the century was the end of an era. While the worldview of the WTO and its supporters has been humbled, it is still dominant. But it is humbled, and somewhat confused about what to do next.

This should be a time for re-thinking the values and the goals of the WTO. Embarrassingly, the Canadian government has not recognized this. Trade Minister Pettigrew seems to see Canada’s role as leading the search for a way to salvage the WTO as it is, instead of learning the lesson of Seattle and seeking an entirely new set of multilateral trade rules in which the market ethic and corporate interests are subordinate to democracy, social justice, the environment, and cultural diversity, with democracy being the overriding value. It is, after all, through the democratic process that we make decisions in the interests of social justice, the environment, and cultural diversity. And it is in the interests of democracy that the battle in Seattle was fought.

I think it fair to say that the humbling of the WTO in Seattle, following the defeat of the MAI, is occasion for great hopefulness. Before Seattle, those of us who were critical of the WTO were voices in the wilderness. After Seattle, our views are being taken very seriously. I dare to hope that we may yet transform the new world order, so that we may have a true global community, and not just a global marketplace in which everything is for sale, including our values.

In solidarity,

Bill Blaikie, MP - NDP Trade Critic